


At First Glance

by Pennygirl612



Category: White Collar
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-20
Updated: 2018-01-20
Packaged: 2019-03-07 06:11:47
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 813
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13428492
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Pennygirl612/pseuds/Pennygirl612
Summary: Peter and Neal have a conversation that is more than it initially seems.





	At First Glance

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: I don't own White Collar or any of it's characters.

At First Glance

Neal waited until Peter was seated in the car before voicing his irritation. “That so called witness…”

“Just described half the male population in New York,” Peter finished. “Hell, he could have been describing me!”

“No, he couldn’t have,” Neal responded firmly.

“No?” Peter pulled out his notebook and read, “White male, brown hair, medium build, not short or tall, no distinguishing marks or tattoos. How do I not fit that bill?”

“He only glanced at the guy.”

“Yeah, because the guy was nothing special.”

Neal turned away to face the window as he murmured, “I hate when you do that.”

“Do what?”

“Put yourself down.”

“I don’t.” 

“You do!” Neal snapped as he wheeled around to stare hard at Peter. “And I don’t like it.”

“Okay,” Peter said drawling out the word. Deciding to make light of the situation, he said, “If I promise not to do it again, would that make you happy?”

“Yeah, whatever, forget I said anything,” Neal answered before turning back to the window.

Peter started to say something but stopped. From the tension he was reading in Neal’s body language, he could tell Neal was serious. He was a little dumbfounded on how the conversation had taken this turn, whatever this actually was. Unfortunately, he had a feeling it was about to get even worse. Talking about…feelings…were not his strong point. So he put the car in drive because ignoring emotional discussions was something he liked to do. But a quick glance over to his partner had him shifting the car back into park.

“You know sometimes talking to you is like talking to my wife!”

“I don’t know what you mean!”

Peter took a deep breath. The intense blue-eyed glare he was currently receiving from Neal was very reminiscent of the look Elizabeth would give when she was frustrated with him for being obtuse and not getting her point. 

With another deep breath, Peter forged on. “I just mean that I thought we were talking about one thing while you were clearly talking about something else entirely. Yet you’re expecting me to read your mind and know what’s going on without giving me any damn clues about what we’re really talking about!” Peter rubbed his face. “I’m getting a headache!”

“The witness—he only glanced at the guy,” Neal said as if that answered everything.

Peter sighed in frustration. “Yeah, you said that, but I don’t get-”

“Nobody would ever just glance at you. They couldn’t.”

Peter waved his hands in the air to express his confusion. Were they going to just talk in circles? This conversation might be worse than talking to Elizabeth!

“You--it’s hard to put into words. You have a presence; an aura if you will, that exudes power and strength. They may try to look away but your energy will always draw them back in.”

“You’re joking with me, messing with me.”

Neal shook his head. “I know you don’t see it, but trust me, those around you certainly do. Peter, have you never noticed that anytime you go undercover, it’s always as someone in a position of power, as a leader? You could never play the role of a follower or a sidekick nor would anyone buy it. It’s not who you are. You could never blend in or go unnoticed. You could never be ‘nothing special’.” 

Not knowing what to say, again Peter attempted levity. “Despite my attempts at disguise with an ill-fitted Brooks Brother suit?”

Neal acted as if Peter had never spoken. Clearly he was lost inside his own head. His voice lowered to little more than a whisper. Peter stilled sensing the importance of what Neal was about to say.

“I’ve known men with that same energy whose power was just overwhelming; palpable even. But they weren’t like you. They weren’t kind. They didn’t have a good heart. You couldn’t trust them to do the right thing. And they certainly weren’t out to help people. No, they were all about themselves. They used their charisma, their magnetism to abuse and take advantage of the trust people gave them.” 

The light went on for Peter. “You’re talking about Adler…” A glance into Neal’s eyes and the haunted look he saw there caused Peter to take a sharp breath. “Not just Adler, but Ja…”

Neal quickly cut him off before he could finish naming his father. “You’re not like them (him)! You could never be like them (him)!”

Peter shook his head and placed a hand on Neal’s shoulder. “No, I couldn’t be like them (him). I will never be like them (him).” 

Clearing his throat to break the tension, Peter said, “So that witness…”

“Wasn’t describing you,” Neal responded emphatically.

“No,” Peter said as he put the car in drive to take them back to the office, “No, I guess he wasn’t.”


End file.
